Snuff and chewing tobacco are frequently referred to as smokeless tobacco products because they are designed for use by the consumer without subjecting the product to a combustion process. Snuff and chewing tobacco products are manufactured in a variety of forms in order to appeal to different consumers. Chewing tobacco, for example, is produced as a firm plug, moist plug, twist, loose leaf and fine cut tobacco. Snuff is marketed in both dry and moist forms with the latter form being basically similar to the fine cut chewing tobacco.
At the present time loose leaf chewing tobacco is the most popular form of smokeless tobacco product while the fine cut/moist snuff category is the second most popular form. In spite of this wide popularity these product forms have a characteristic that is perceived as objectionable by consumers who continue to prefer plug chewing tobacco. The objectionable characteristic is the "float" associated with use of the product. In other words, the individual particles of tobacco tend to remain dispersed in the mouth of the consumer rather than to collect into a single aggregate that can be chewed like a portion of plug tobacco. Some consumers overcome the objectionable "float" characteristic by using chewing gum in conjunction with their use of smokeless tobacco products containing loose tobacco particles. Surprisingly, this practice has not yet led to the development of a satisfactory smokeless tobacco product which contains chewing gum as an integral part of the product. This failure to develop an acceptable chewing gum/smokeless tobacco combination is due to a variety of factors not the least of which is the consumer psychology involved. Thus, the fact that chewing gum is closely associated with candies and similar comestibles tends to detract from the masculine image portrayed by many smokeless tobacco products if they are offered in combination with chewing gum.
U.S. Pat. No. 865,026 discloses a masticable tobacco preparation designed to aid the user who wishes to discontinue the habit of chewing tobacco. This preparation comprises a relatively small proportion of tobacco coated completely by a wax or dispersed in a gum composition. A typical preparation taught in this patent contains 6 parts by weight of tobacco and 10 parts by weight of soft paraffin or gum chicle thoroughly mixed so that the tobacco particles are well protected by a film of the wax or gum. A similar preparation is described in U.S. Pat. No. 904,521 in which one part by weight of tobacco extract is mixed with two or more parts by weight of gum chicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,376,586 describes a product comprising chewing tobacco in the form of tablets or individual "chews" with the tablets being completely covered by gum chicle to give a coating that is impervious to both air and moisture.
British Patent Specification No. 711,187 discloses a chewing gum comprising 70 to 80 percent by weight gum base such as chicle, 10 to 20 percent by weight kola powder or similar filling material, 2 to 6 percent by weight powdered tobacco and up to 3 percent by weight other ingredients.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,166,078 and 3,209,763 involve a chewing tobacco product comprising more than 60 percent by weight of finely divided tobacco thermally bonded together by and dispersed in a matrix of water insoluble polymeric vinyl ester resin plasticized with triacetin, the matrix comprising from 20 to 40 percent by weight of the product. The product has chewable plasticity at human body temperature.
Swiss patent application No. 707/80 filed Jan. 29, 1980 and published Aug. 6, 1981 as PCT publication No. WO 81/02090 discloses a chewing tobacco product in the form of individual portions wherein the chewing tobacco is coated with a solid or semisolid carrier material or is distributed as small particles within the carrier material. One of the carrier materials disclosed is chewing gum and, according to the examples, the product contains 28.7 percent by weight of the gum base and 33.5 percent by weight tobacco. When chewing gum is used as the carrier material, it is apparently preferred that the tobacco be mixed with the gum to give a uniform distribution of tobacco particles within the carrier material.
In spite of the long history of attempts to develop a satisfactory smokeless tobacco product containing a chewing gum type of material, such attempts have not yet led to a product that has found acceptance among consumers of smokeless tobacco products.